This week, community members have the chance to attend two meetings about a seven-story apartment building that the city has approved for Charlottesville’s Fifeville neighborhood. Both meetings are open to the public, and anyone can attend.
On Monday, June 22 at 6:30 p.m., Fifeville residents will gather at First Baptist Church to discuss their yearlong opposition to the building, which is called The Mark. The building will be marketed to UVA students, and is classified “student housing” in the city’s zoning ordinance. That means that the apartments will be rented by the room and are within a half-mile of UVA grounds.
Because it will be student housing, The Mark is not required to make any of the units affordable. Instead, it will make a contribution of more than $4 million to the city’s Affordable Housing Fund, as required by the city’s inclusionary zoning policy.
Residents say that the building, which stands to draw more than 700 UVA students into the neighborhood, is not what they envisioned when they worked with the city to create the Cherry Avenue Small Area Plan, an official city planning document adopted by City Council in 2021…